


Rain, Rain

by Ladybird_0



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Angst, Chapter Related, Chaptered, Character Development, F/M, Fights, Flashbacks, Long, Mystery, Plot, Reader-Insert, Romance, Sibling Bonding, character-insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2019-05-16 13:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14812295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladybird_0/pseuds/Ladybird_0
Summary: Back in Ikebukero was the last place you wanted to be. It was crawling with people you didn’t want to see. But, when someone takes something of yours you get it back, even if it’s by force. Your plan was to do so by yourself, but sometimes it’s hard to hide from the people who care about you most.[Shizuo Heiwajima x OCReader]Sibling! [Kyouhei Kadota x OCReader]





	1. It's Good to See You Again

"Hold on, 'last week?' How long have you been in Ikebukuro!?" 

A sigh slipped past your lips as carelessly as your last comment had. A comment along the lines of, 'yeah, I went by there last week'. It was a simple response to an old friend asking innocently if you'd seen your parents. It was also a _lie_ , but unfortunately that was not the issue the young man took with your words. 

"Just since last Wednesday," you said lightly. It was now Monday. "And I'm only here- _ouch!_ Shinra!" 

Daggers shot from your eyes to the hands of the doctor. Though an apologetic look graced his face, his gaze didn't break from his work. 

"Sorry, but you really should have come to me as soon as this happened." The tools in his hand poked and pulled at the tender tissue on your arm. You could only grip the light fabric of the sofa to help ease the pain as he dissected the DIY job you had done on the gash. "Is this fishing line?" he asked hesitantly, pulling the last of the tangled and bloody mess from your left brachium. 

"Yeah," you replied slightly embarrassed. "It was all I had." 

The doctor only shook his head as he discarded the monofilament in a trash bin and reached for the disinfectant. "Well anyway, how come you haven't told anyone you're back? I could be wrong, but considering the state of your arm it kind of seems like you were avoiding me." He wiped at the oozing wound with a damp cloth. The cool disinfectant eased the burning pain of the cut and you sighed in relief. 

"Are you sure there isn't something you want to talk about?" he asked.

Fifteen minutes ago, when you had arrived at Shinra Kishitani's apartment unannounced and with a terribly infected laceration on your upper arm, he had grilled you with questions on what you were doing back in the city and where you had gotten such a vicious cut. So you responded with a very rehearsed 'I'm fine' and 'only visiting' and ‘just wasn't watching where I was going' so casually, it had almost sounded genuine. You reassured him of all these things now. 

"I just have to take care of a few things and then I'm leaving. If people find out I'm back, they're going to try and convince me to stay. It'll just be a waste of my time and theirs." You turned your focus to the window and the gray storm clouds that hovered over Ikebukuro. "So don't go telling everyone I stopped by, okay?"

His only response was that the stitching process might hurt a little.

"Hey, did you hear me? Don't tell anyone you saw me, okay?" 

You were only given silence. He remained focused on your wound, pinching the flesh together and preparing to sew. Your eyes darkened.

 _"O-kay, Shinra?"_ you growled. "I don't need everyone bugging me about what I’m doing and- _ACK!_ " The needle had ruthlessly entered your skin. 

"Sorry," Shinra said, although the grin hiding his teeth suggested he wasn't apologetic at all. "I did say it would hurt a little."

Your right fist folded together ready to repay him for his trick, but before you could make a scratch on his porcelain face a small object flew over your shoulder and into the doctor's nose. The force knocked him from his knees and, dropping the needle on the way down, he fell to the floor. When you turned to see where the object had come from, you understood. Dressed in the same black leather and golden helmet she wore when you last saw her, Celty stood in the doorway. Black shadows swarmed around her tense body and clenched fists. From her position, she couldn't see the swelling cut on your arm or the thread Shinra had wrapped around his fingers. From the floor, Shinra looked to his fiancé, to you, and then to your only shirt besides your undergarment, a sweatshirt which had been discarded onto a chair in the corner so he could treat your injury. He then understood too.

"Celty, wait, this isn't what it looks like!" he cried.

Ignoring his protests, she grabbed his coat collar and pulled him to his feet. She moved silently but you could still hear her rage. Mercilessly, she shook his body. He struggled to get any words out. 

"Celty … please … it's just Kohana … she went to Raira … a few years after me … remember?" 

Her shaking fists quieted and she turned to you. Her helmet moved up and down, looking from your brown waves of hair to your short naked torso and down to your jean clad legs and dirty socks. She looked at you closely, even though she had nothing to look at you with. Letting Shinra drop from her grasp she leaned to pick up her phone, which had been the unidentified flying object moments before. She quickly poked at the letters on the device and then turned it to you to read.

 _Sorry. I didn't recognize you. It's been a long day._

You only smiled in forgiveness. Besides, it wasn't you she had attacked. You watched as she punched in a new message.

_It's great to see you again! But, can I ask why you're back in Ikebukero?_

Your shoulders came to your ears. "I've just got a few things to do, then I'll be off." You could sense her dissatisfaction with the response. 

Beside her, Shinra slowly stood and rid his coat of wrinkles. "Don't feel bad, Celty, she won't tell me either." He returned to your side to grab the needle dangling freely from your arm. "She's been here since last Wednesday, 'just visiting friends'. Apparently by 'friends' she didn't mean us," he teased.

Celty put her screen to your eyes again. 

_Did your "friends" give you that?_

She gestured to Shinra's sewing project. You shook your head and told her, just as you had told Shinra, that you were simply careless. Again, you felt she was dissatisfied. 

The stitches were done quickly and after Shinra had instructed you on how to properly clean them, you decided it was best to be on your way. 

"I'll need to check on it again in a few days and take the stitches out. So make sure you come back before anything gets infected." It was the most professional he had sounded all evening. 

You only nodded in response and pulled the navy blue hoodie over your shoulders. From where she stood beside you, Celty observed the clean cut in the fabric and the dark stains that had leaked from the formerly open wound. 

"Oh, and Kohana?" Shinra called. A teasing charm sparkled in his eyes. "Stay out of trouble. I worked hard on those, so don't break them. Okay?" 

Again you nodded, though you weren't making any promises. You grabbed your backpack off the dining table before exiting with a wave. You could only hope that Shinra and Celty really would keep quiet about your return to the city. The last thing you needed was everyone asking why you were back and telling you why you should stay. Already you had run into too many familiar faces.

You had only just pressed the button for the elevator when a gloved hand tapped twice on your shoulder. You turned to see Celty's phone and characters stretched across the screen. 

_You should see him before you leave._

Confusion stirred in your dark eyes as you looked past the screen to your friend. She turned the phone around and began typing a new message. Before she finished, you let out a deep sigh that brought her fingers to a halt. 

"Oh. Yeah." You examined a cracked tile in the floor. "Sorry, but I don't think my brother would understand- "

Her helmet shook and she wiped her screen clear of characters before tapping on more keys. 

_I'm not talking about your brother._

Now, your orbs widened and your lips took the shape of a frown. 

_I can tell he worries about you._

You were caught off guard by her message. You didn’t have a response and you didn’t want to respond. It was too hard to think about. The chime of the elevator erupted beside you, and you brushed off your friend with a smile.

"Catch ya' later, Celty. Tell Shinra 'thanks' for me."

The look she left you with as the doors slid shut was empty. It made you feel empty. The pure disappointment that radiated from her slender form now filled the elevator. It was your only company on a very long ride to the ground floor. When the doors finally set you free on the city street, you pulled out your red flip phone and typed up a message. 

_You know what I want. Tell me what I need to do._


	2. You Owe Me One

Your Tuesday morning had been unproductive. You crawled out of your creaky hotel bed at sunrise and jumped right into the desk chair in the corner of the room. You had leaned into your laptop screen flipping from article to article until noon. Hours of research and you couldn’t find a single piece of information that was helpful to you.

You flipped open your phone to see the time was 12:13pm. The only message you had was from yesterday evening.

 _Call me tomorrow after 2:00pm._

You shut your phone and slunk into the hotel chair. With almost two hours to kill, you could have scanned 50 articles. However, your rumbling gut said picking up lunch from downtown was the best way to pass time. You threw on your shoes and navy hoodie. The hole from your cut had already stretched out a bit. The sleeve hung lower on your left arm than your right. You made sure your hotel door was locked before heading down the stairwell into the streets.

It was spring in Ikebukero and with spring came rain. You pulled your hair back and covered it with your hood as you walked out from the cover of the building. The nice thing about rainy days was that less people hung around outside.

You found a decent looking noodle shop only a few blocks away from your hotel. You found the inside to be small but cozy and nicely decorated. Your order was ready quickly. Grabbing it from the chef behind the counter, you gave a soft smile and turned to head back to the street. Only, on your way out the door you carelessly walked right into an innocent passerby. The collision had knocked you backward and the stranger grabbed your wrist to help you balance.

"Careful, kid," the man said. "You alright?"

You nodded, pulling your wrist from his grasp. The abrupt collision caused several strands of your curls to slip out from under your hood. Without any thought, you threw your hood off your brown waves and pulled the loose strands too the side. 

"Hah, I don't believe it," the stranger laughed. You looked with little enthusiasm to the man beside you, but when your eyes locked your mouth fell open and your hair dropped back down to your shoulders.

"Tom… wh- what are you doing here!?" The question erupted from your throat as more of a squeak than an audible sentence.

The brunette chuckled. "I think that's what I'm supposed to ask you. I haven't seen you around here in ages."

You bit your lip, searching for the right words. It was unbelievable; over a million people in Ikebukuro and you happened to walk straight into someone you were trying to avoid. When you didn't respond, the man continued.

"I could be wrong, but I heard you up and left a few years back." He looked you up and down. "Hell, if it weren't for those eyes, I don't think I would have recognized you at all." 

You cleared your throat but still felt the lump of tangled explanations and formalities deep in your chest. "Um, yeah. I went out to the country for a bit…" you finally spat out, "and now I'm back."

A smile stayed on his lips. "Good to hear." 

You had met Tom only a handful of times, but it was always pleasant. He hadn't gone to Raira before you like Shinra had, but you had attended the same middle school even though he graduated before you entered. 

"You know Shizuo's working with me now? I think it's going pretty well. He would have been here, but he said he got caught up in something important. Too bad, I'm sure he would have liked to see- "

"No," you interrupted flatly. Tom looked at you surprised while you continued. "Sorry, but I guess I wasn't too clear earlier." You looked to a piece of stray garbage on the pavement, avoiding the man's patient eyes. "I'm only here for another week or so and then I'm leaving again. I know it's a little silly, but I don't really want to see anyone. That's why I was so shocked when I bumped into you." You laughed a little. "Truth be told, I've been doing my best to avoid everyone. I haven’t been very good at it, but I’m trying." A moment passed before he choked out a single ‘but’ and you started again.

"I'm sorry, really, but it's for the best. I don't even want him knowing I was here…" Your brown eyes were pleading. It was another moment before the male realized what you were asking.

"Hold on, you want me to lie to Shizuo for you?" he said with an undertone of disapproval.

"It's not really lying… just don't tell him."

Tom sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I don’t know, something tells me it won't be that simple."

"Then act like you don't know anything!" you begged. 

He jumped a little and looked to the side. "Come on, then it is lying!"

"Whatever!" you retorted. "Please, Tom? I'll be gone in a week and it'll be like I was never here at all." 

His coffee colored eyes met yours. It was clear he was uncomfortable with the idea. The loyalty he held for Shizuo immensely outweighed the friendship he had with you, but the look in your young eyes showed a genuine concern for the blonde in question. It probably would be better for the already emotionally imbalanced bodyguard to believe you'd left Ikebukuro for good. He took in a deep breath and bit his lip. 

"Look, we both know Shizuo isn't someone you want to piss off..." He looked to a corner. "But, if you say so. I had no idea you were ever here."

You let out a breath of relief and bowed. “Thank you, Tom.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he huffed.

At that moment, a thought popped into your head. 

“Actually, I have one more favor to ask,” you said. “What do you know about Inazuma Electronics?”

“Hm? The phone company?” Tom’s eyes locked with yours. You could see he was surprised and yet intrigued by your question. He waited for you to confirm and then continued. “Only a little, I guess. They weren’t doing so hot for a couple of years. They took out a lot of loans that they couldn’t pay back. I had to deal with them personally a few times.” 

You felt a twinge of hope from his response and pressed for more information. 

“They’re pretty small right? Who owns them?” you asked. 

He brushed a hand through his hair. “I couldn’t tell you. They were bought up a couple of months ago by an anonymous bidder, just before they were about to go under. They haven’t had many problems since.” He shrugged. “Why are you interested in a company like Inazuma Electronics anyways?”

Oops. You hadn’t thought up a cover story for that yet. You spat out the first thing that came to mind. 

“Oh, um, no reason really! Just heard something on the television. Some ad in between news stories. I didn’t recognize the name.” You attempted to change the subject. “I heard there’s a new woman running for governor?”

The lie was terrible and you both knew it. Tom also knew he wasn’t going to get a better answer out of you, so he moved on. 

“Yeah, it’s an interesting time for Ikebukero, that’s for sure.” He smiled at you. “Well anyway, I’ve got to get going. It was great running into you, Kohana. I’m sorry it won’t happen more often.”

You tried to brush off his final comment and responded with a smile and small wave. “Nice to see you too, Tom. Thanks again, for everything.”

He turned and headed back into the rain. “Yeah,” he laughed, “you really owe me one.”


	3. See You Later

**_Four years earlier…_ **

You didn’t argue when your parents said you would be staying with your grandparents in the country for a while. They said they had your best interest in mind. They said they loved you and they wanted you to be safe. You believed them. Still, feelings of guilt and sadness weighed heavily on your chest as you walked to the train station in the rain. All of your belongings were stuffed into a single overnight bag and a backpack. 

Your brother walked with you, carrying your bag and holding up a yellow umbrella to protect your small form from the downpour. Aside from the occasional sigh, neither of you spoke until you arrived at the ticketing window. With caution and hesitance, your brother spoke first. 

“They’re doing this because they care about you,” he said.

You rolled your eyes. You weren’t in the mood for a lecture. 

“I know that,” you spat back. 

You approached the ticket window and passed the man behind the counter the yen your parents had given you for the one-way ride. He passed back a small blue ticket with a smile and instructed you to have a nice trip as a formality. You couldn’t help but let out a scoff as you turned away.

 _How could I?_

You cursed and shoved the blue paper stub into the pocket of your hoodie. You turned back to your brother and held out your hand, asking for your bag. 

“I should get going,” you said dryly.

For a moment, you both stood in heavy silence. His deep, chocolate brown eyes stared into your own. People always cooed over how much the two of you looked alike. You didn’t see it. Your brother’s eyes had a courage and wisdom you never saw when you looked in the mirror. In fact, your brother had a lot of traits you simply did not. 

Finally, he let out a deep sigh and passed you the red duffle. “What do you expect me to do, Hana?” he asked.

You snatched it with another roll of your eyes. “I don’t know, how about leave me _alone?_ All I’ve ever wanted is to be left alone, ok?”

You knew your words had hurt him, as they had many times before. Despite everything that had occurred, he was still your brother and he cared about you too. You weren’t even upset with him, but you had repeatedly pushed him away and now you didn’t know how to deal with the consequences. 

He didn’t respond to your outburst. Instead he let out another deep sigh and looked to the pavement. You felt the weight in your chest grow heavier with guilt.

“Call Mom when you get off the train, otherwise she’ll worry,” he said. 

You nodded, but didn’t speak or turn to move. This wasn’t the goodbye you had wanted from your brother, but you only had yourself to blame. 

With a forced smile he plopped his hand softly on your head and tousled your dark waves. You didn’t try to swat it away.

“Good luck, kid.”

Without another word he turned on the wet pavement and walked off. As you watched him disappear into the crowd of people, all of the emotions you had been juggling threatened to come crashing down. Your shoulders began to shake and a single tear rolled down your cheek. The sound of falling rain and chatting pedestrians made the goodbye you croaked out almost entirely inaudible.

“See you later, Kyohei…” you whispered and turned to the stairway leading down into the station. 

Your train wasn’t scheduled to leave for another thirty minutes, but it was already parked and waiting for passengers to load when you reached the tracks. You pulled the blue ticket from your sweater pocket and headed to the conductor for a stamp. As you approached, you were halted by the sound of an airy chuckle that had become too familiar over the past several years. Every bone in your body shook with anger at the sound. With daggers in your eyes you turned to where the black haired male was sitting waiting on a station bench.

“So that’s it? Leaving without a single goodbye…” he said as he walked towards you with a smirk. “What will poor Shizu-chan think?”

“Stay away from me, Izaya!” you spat, but he didn’t head your warning. Instead he let out a deep laugh that sent a shiver up your spine. 

“Still as feisty as the day I met you, _Dotan!_ ” He stood only a foot from you and leaned forward as he spoke. “I think I might actually miss having you around.”

His face was inches from yours. You could feel that the weight in your chest had been lifted and replaced by a raging, burning fire. His words were like gasoline and as the flame grew larger the heat rose from your chest and settled in your cheeks. 

“ _Shut up,_ ” you growled. “All of this is your fault. _Everything_ that happened was _your fault_ , Izaya!”

He stared at you for a long moment, never letting his smile fade. 

“You really think so?” He spoke softly, almost in a whisper. “Then how come you’re the one running?”

His words cut into you as sharply as his knife could have. You stepped backwards with a huff but no other response escaped your lips. You started to wish you had never met him. You thought of all the things that would have been better for you if he hadn’t been around that day, or if you hadn’t been such a stupid kid. 

He laughed again. “You’re too easy to read, Dotan; I know what you’re thinking. You’re wishing you had never met me. You’re thinking about how much better everything would be for you right now if I just hadn’t been around that day. Of course you’re also thinking about if you hadn’t been so naive.“

Every part of you wanted to fight him. You might have even wanted to kill him. You knew you couldn’t take him though. You had learned too many times before. 

“But you know, you never once disappointed me. Not even now as you leave the city with your tail between your legs.” He shrugged with a smile. “I only hope we’ll get to have as much fun in the future,” -he brought a hand to your cheek to brush away a stray curl- “my little Dotan.”

Your insides were engulfed in hot flames of rage. Everything about him, everything he said and did, made you furious. You recoiled from his touch and knocked his hand away. In a swift move he grabbed your wrist and pulled your arm upwards, leaving you defenseless. 

The only words that could escape your lips were laced with venom. 

_“Drop dead.”_

Over an intercom, an announcement was made reporting that your train was scheduled to leave within the next ten minutes.

Izaya pulled your arm across your body and spun you around. He held you still -your back pressed to his chest for a moment just long enough to make you squirm- and then shoved you forward.

“Don’t miss your train now,” he said with a smirk still pressed on his lips. 

You sent him a single glare before turning and practically bolting onto the train. You hadn’t been excited to leave until now. Now, you wanted nothing more than to get as far away from Izaya Orihara as this train would allow. There was nothing left for you in Ikebukuro. He had made sure of that.

The boy’s eyes never left your figure as you boarded the locomotive and found your seat. He locked gazes with you as you looked out through the train window. 

“You think there’s nothing left for you here, but you’re wrong…” He spoke so only he could hear.

As the station began to make the final calls for your train, he turned with a wave and exited up towards the street. 

“How long can you really stay away, Dotan? There’s still so much fun to be had…”


	4. I'm Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got stuck on this chapter so I am happy to have it done and actually quite happy with the way it turned out. The next chapter is the one that inspired it all, so I look forward to posting that as well!

“Stop messing with me, I know you know something.” You spoke sternly, pressing the red flip phone closer to your mouth. “Why were you there the other night? Who bought Inazuma Electronics? What do they want with my work?”

A laugh came from the other end of the line.

_“You tell me. What would a bankrupt phone company want with your work? After all, you’re just some self-taught hacker who didn’t even graduate high school.”_

You scowled. 

_“As for myself, well let’s just say I’ve invested personal interest.”_

You spun around in the hotel room’s desk chair to face your laptop. You opened a new search page and began typing viciously. 

“That’s hardly an answer, but whatever. Just tell me anything you can about Inazuma Electronics. That’s how this works right? You give me info and I give you money, not update you on my business and my life. _Ow!_ ” 

You had grown tense and the cut in your arm shot pain through your entire body. You took a deep breath in through your nose and let it out through your mouth. 

“Although, since I already took a hit from your knife and had to see Shinra for the stitches I don’t think I owe you anything,” you said. 

Another laugh came through the phone. 

_“Oh, so you did see Shinra! How is he? I’m guessing he told you to be careful so you wouldn’t break them? You shouldn’t be doing anything.”_

“I’m _fine_ ,” you growled. “Look, why did you even tell me to call you if you were just going to be annoying?”

_“You’re so mean, Dotan!”_ he teased. _“You always know how to hit the people who care about you right where it hurts the most.”_

You almost hung up the phone. You knew he was just trying to get to you. You wanted so badly to ignore him but his comment was sinking into your skin like a tattoo. 

_“Anyways, I need something done and you seem like the best person to do it. So, you get it done and we’ll consider the info you want covered. Deal?”_

You stayed silent and mulled over the risk and reward of your situation. After a long moment, you spoke up again.

“Fine. What is it?”

_“Wonderful! It’s simple really. Just an item that I need picked up.”_

You could hear the smirk on his lips. 

_“Easy.”_

If the job had actually been what Izaya said it was, it would have been easy. Unfortunately, it was pure hell.

He had passed along the address of the meet-up location to you via text message. It was literally a back alley. It was shady and cliché, but nothing you hadn’t dealt with before. You left your hotel room that night with nothing but your phone and a knife in the pocket of your still-torn blue sweatshirt. You pushed your brown curls back and pulled the hood of the sweatshirt up over your head with hopes that you might have less trouble if people mistook you for a boy. That usually saved you some headaches. 

You never expected much from the info broker, but you had certainly hoped for more information on the person you were meeting. All Izaya gave you was a time and a location. No name, no description. In fact, he didn’t even tell you what it was your were picking up. 

The only light in the alley was that which flooded out of the window of a single apartment, and it was only because a television was on. 

You could see the news headline from where you stood below. 

"TOKYO GOVERNOR CANDIDATE MOTO ONO PROMISES TO RID IKEBUKURO OF CRIME IF ELECTED", it read.

The television didn't provide enough light to give you any sense of comfort. You waited for about fifteen minutes and when no one showed you began to grow uneasy. You had just decided you were only going to stick around for another five or ten more when a loud clash and clatter from the other end of the alleyway startled you upright. Several trashcans had been knocked on their sides and the contents had been scattered in all directions. The person responsible seemed to be in a rush. He was an older man in tattered clothing and house slippers. You were happy to be a few yards away since he looked like he hadn't showered in days. You tensed when he noticed you staring and began hurriedly approaching you. 

“Hey, kid. Are you the one here for that info broker?”

You took a few steps back cautiously. His voice cut through the air like knives. It was high pitched and raspy. He spoke with the same urgency that he walked with.

“Could be,” you said coolly. Your years of experience with these transactions very suddenly came flooding back to you. “Let me see what you’ve got.” 

The man shoved a wooden box that was no bigger than a shoebox in your direction. You stared down at it with wide eyes. 

“That’s it?” you asked more to yourself than to him. 

“Yeah, yeah,” he twitched. “See?” 

He placed his pale, boney hand on the dark wooden lid and pulled it open. The inside of the box was lined with red velvet. In the middle of the display pillow was a small knife. The blade itself was polished and shining. It reflected the dim light of the alley easily. The handle however looked to be a million years old. It was all cracked wood and rusted edges. It wasn’t what you had been expecting at all. 

“Whatever then,” you finally sighed. “Hand it over.”

The box slammed shut making a large _pop_ that bounced off the walls of the empty alley. You jumped about a foot in the air.

“What the hell, man?!”

The stranger’s lips curled into a heavy, nasty frown. 

“Where’s the money?” he spat. 

You practically choked. “What? I don’t- ” 

You froze. 

Oh. 

You weren’t supposed to _pick up_ the item. You were supposed to _steal_ it. 

“Shit.” 

You knew what was going to happen next, but you still weren’t fast enough. It became a split second battle of who could pull a weapon faster and you lost. He had his knife pulled and pointed towards you before you could even get your small hand in the pocket of your hoodie. 

“Hand over the money or I’ll kill you, boy. I will. I don’t have time for games.”

Your brow furrowed and your face fell into a deep scowl. “I don’t have your money. You know that other guy? The one you made the deal with? Yeah, he screwed you over. You should have asked about payment beforehand, _dumbass._ ” 

You had no problem throwing Izaya under the bus. You weren’t interested in being a toy for that weasel anymore. Unfortunately, your opponent didn’t seem to care that you were made into as much of a fool as he was. 

“I said I ain’t got time for games!” he shouted. He pushed the knife closer to your throat. “I have to get the money to someone tonight or I’ll be as dead as you, so hand over whatever you’ve got!”

He reached for your pocket himself. You had to bite your lip to keep from spitting in his face. You knew the knife was too close to you though. One wrong move and he could hit an artery. 

You tensed as he reached into the front pocket of your hoodie and dug around. He pulled out your small knife first and tossed it into the dark of the alley. 

He reached for your pocket again when suddenly you were both startled by more clattering and clanging at the other end of the alleyway. Before you could see what had caused the noise, a single bin came hurdling towards you both. It hit the old man right in the chest and sent him flying. He landed over ten feet away. 

You backed up into the brick wall and let the darkness keep you as hidden as possible. You knew what –or _who_ – produced that kind of force. It suddenly made sense why your attacker was in such a rush. 

“Didn’t I tell you not to run?”

The voice sent a chill up your spine. 

Shizuo Heiwajima.

“I thought we could settle this like men,” Shizuo said. He approached as a dark shadow, growing larger with every step toward you. 

“But I see now,” he continued with a growl, “you’re just a coward.” 

The blonde male seemed to be in such a frenzy that he didn’t notice you plastered against the brick wall. As he walked by, a hint of his scent lingered in the air around you and your stomach flipped. It was musky and warm. The smell of cigarettes didn’t bother you. In fact, it almost comforted you. You had to fight your mind to keep it from replaying all of the old memories associated with that smell, but your heart was way ahead of you. It began beating faster. It took all of your energy not to release the heavy breath that had caught in your throat. If he hadn’t noticed you yet, you weren’t going to draw any extra attention to yourself now. 

The man you had come to meet lay on the concrete, wiggling like a worm in the sun. He began whimpering and pleading as Shizuo approached him.

“No, no! You don’t understand! I know you, you’re Shizuo Heiwajima. I would never want to disrespect you,” he stuttered. “I just had to come get the money from my friend. Y-yeah, my friend right there. He’s got the money!” 

A pale boney finger pointed past the blonde and directly at you. 

Shit.

You tensed, waiting for Shizuo to turn his attention to you. Instead, the blonde reached down and grabbed the old man by his tattered shirt. Shizuo pulled the man to his feet. 

“Shut up!” The blonde’s words were venomous. “You’re pissing me off!”

He began shaking the man’s body in his clenched fist. 

“You’re pathetic… trying to make your problem someone else’s. You make me sick.”

With a final scoff, Shizuo dropped the man to the ground again where this time he lay still. Shizuo had shaken him into unconsciousness. You saw this as a window of opportunity and planned to take it. As silently as you could, you began shuffling away from the two men. You kept your back against the brick wall. You only made it a few steps before your wrist was wrapped in Shizuo’s large hand. He plucked you off of the wall like you were a weed. He dangled you a few feet off the ground so he could see you at eye level. You turned your head as far down and to the side as you could so he wouldn’t see your face. 

“Where do you think you’re going, kid? Your friend says you’ve got the money.”

You tried speaking in the lowest tone you could manage. 

“He’s not my friend,” you said. You sounded ridiculous, but it was better than nothing. 

Shizuo scoffed. “You’re pathetic too,” he spat. He squeezed your wrist even tighter, making you flinch. 

“I don’t know that asshole, he was trying to rob me. If you’d been paying attention, you’d know that. Idiot.” You thought if you played dumb and annoying he might just toss you, allowing you to make your escape. 

“Shut up,” he said. It was less venomous than it had been before. “I’m not letting you go until someone coughs it up.”

You let out a snort. “Then we’ll be here all night, dumbass, because that loser is broke and _I don’t know him._ Now _let me go_.” 

If it weren’t for your hood, Shizuo would have seen the mischievous sparkle in your large brown eyes. Instead, he tugged on your arm roughly and pulled you higher off the ground. 

“Shut up!” he said again. 

Your next response came so naturally, you didn’t realize until it was too late how much of a mistake it was.

“ _Make me,_ ” you spat. You looked forward, putting your face only inches from his. 

You saw his golden orbs widen in a split second before his grip loosened on your wrist and you dropped to the pavement. 

You toppled over with a heavy thud and your blue hood fell to your shoulders revealing your long brown waves. If he had thought it was a coincidence or his eyes playing tricks on him, there was no question now. 

You looked up at him with a sympathetic gaze. The emotion on his face was a mixture of fear and disbelief; it was as if he were looking at a ghost. He said nothing. He only stared in shock. His golden eyes felt like they were drilling holes into your skin. 

After a long moment, you managed to croak out a single phrase. 

“I’m sorry.” 

As quick as you could, you hopped to your feet. Before he could utter a single word or reach out and grab your hand, you had snatched the wooden box and were bolting down the dark alley out of his site.


	5. Shut Up

_**Seven years earlier...** _

"Hey Emi, do you think Heiwajima would ever hit a girl?"

"Hm?" 

Your friend and fellow classmate kept her eyes glued to her notebook. 

You jumped down from the wooden desk you had been seated on and walked toward the large windows that lined the middle school classroom’s wall. You thought your question was pretty clear.

"That kid, Shizuo Heiwajima. You know, second year at Raira with my brother? Always getting into street fights and throwing cars or whatever?" 

You waited for an audible confirmation. Your dark eyes looked out the clear glass and past the perimeter of the school's campus. A few blocks away, you could see a crowd forming. It consisted mostly of younger men; they were all collecting around one single blonde. Shizuo Heiwajima. 

"Yeah, what about him?" your friend chirped, though you could tell she was only humoring you in this conversation. Maybe if she played along for a bit you would actually start helping with class trip planning like you were supposed to.

"Do you think," you said slowly so she wouldn't miss your question again, "he would ever hit a girl?"

Her pencil stopped moving and she looked to you. You kept your eyes on the crowd. The fourth floor was an almost perfect view of the fight unfolding down the road. You watched as men jumped at Shizuo with knives, bats, and other weaponry in hand. He took them all out and made it look easy. 

"That's ridiculous, why would he ever hit a girl?" Emi asked with a slight undertone of irritation. Clearly, she thought it was a stupid question. 

"Think about it," you started. "I've never seen him instigate a fight. I've only seen him fight back when provoked. _But_ the only people provoking him are all those stupid older boys trying to act tough."

The raven-haired girl behind you knitted her eyebrows together. 

"Yeah?" she asked. "So what?"

You turned from the window to face her, eyes wide. 

" _So_ if a girl provoked him, _do you think he'd fight her?_ "

She looked you over once… and returned to her notebook with a huff of irritation. 

"I dunno, Hana." She picked up her pencil, officially bored with the topic of conversation. "Why don't you go find out?"

You pushed from the windowsill and headed for the door. 

"Okay." 

Emi’s eyes shot up from her book with fear. 

"What!?" 

You were halfway down the hall. 

"Hana! W-wait!" 

Pushing back from her desk, she took off after you. 

You heard her call out behind you as you ran from the school grounds towards the dwindling heard of high school boys and gang members, but it was clear you were winning this race. As you approached the crowd, you took note that it was now half the size it had been when you left the school. You pushed through the thin group of boys, most of whom were stuck frozen and trembling after witnessing Shizuo's inhuman strength. Ignoring their comments of confusion and heckles to get yourself out of the way, you pushed to the front. 

The boy you were there to challenge was in the center of the chaos. His blonde hair sat like a mop atop his head. It covered his darkened eyes. Most of his Raira uniform had been torn or dirtied and you noticed he was missing a shoe. Still, with a crosswalk sign in hand, he looked like he was ready for more. 

Emi ran to your side, panting heavily. 

"Kohana, come on. Please. This is stupid, let's just-"

"HEY!" 

You knew she had your best interest in mind, but you had no intention of listening. 

You stepped into the circle with a wide grin upon your face. Capricious behavior wasn't out of character for you, but even you were surprised by this idea. You weren't sure where it, or where the immense amount of confidence you now flaunted, had come from. On top of being almost three years younger than him, you were basically a third his size. Needless to say, you had no plan for this confrontation whatsoever. 

"Heiwajima, right?" you asked.

Your outburst caught more than just Shizuo's attention. In fact, anyone standing on the city block had noticed. You heard whispers of confusion erupt from the crowd as the bruised and battered Raira student turned toward you. Though his dark eyes were brimming with irritation, you swore you saw a flash of curiosity.

"Who's asking?" He spat onto the sidewalk. 

From behind you, you heard Emi let out a small squeak. She bounced around the crowd to a young man who was also in a Raira uniform. You recognized him as Shinra Kishitani. He was usually observing when Shizuo was fighting. 

You heard her mention your brother’s name, to which the young boy responded with a rather amused laugh before pulling out a phone. His phone call to Kyohei had given you a time limit, so it was now or never. Your attention returned to Shizuo. 

"Doesn't matter, just wanted to ask you a few questions," you said with a faint smirk.

You weren't really against giving him your name, but you were worried if he found out you were related to one of his classmates he might not take you as seriously. Then your little experiment would be for nothing. 

"Sorry kid," Shizuo let out a small scoff. "Now’s not really a good time." 

"Why not? I don't see anyone else jumping up to fight you." You paused, feeling the eyes of onlookers drill into your form. "You sure do fight a lot, Heiwajima. Why is that?" 

The blonde gave no answer, so you carried on.

"Is it some sort of a complex or something? A need to prove to everyone that you're the strongest person in Ikebukuro?" 

His brow began to twitch out of annoyance.

"Or maybe…" your smile grew wider. You were sure you were about to get a reaction out of him. "Maybe you're scared." 

A few people in the crowd laughed, but the blonde didn't move or look away. 

You continued. "You might not like this inhuman strength you have, Heiwajima, but I think you're scared of losing it too."

After a moment of looking you over, Shizuo laughed. You could feel the tension in the crowd rise, but you felt something genuine in his laughter. As if he were actually amused by your observation and not offended in the slightest. When he stood straight and relaxed his shoulders, you knew he wasn't going to deny it either. He tossed the street sign to the sidewalk and a small smile dressed his bruised cheeks. 

"Yeah," he said with a final laugh. "Maybe." He had picked up a bag that had been discarded a few feet away and threw it over his shoulder. He turned from you with a wave. "See you around, kid."

You let out a small ‘tch’. That wasn't what you wanted. That wasn't anywhere close to the reaction you had wanted. 

After determining the situation to be safe, Emi dashed to your side. Grabbing hold of your arm, she asked if you were okay and why you had to be so stupid. You could hear the people in the crowd whisper about how lucky you were. You didn't feel lucky. You felt dissatisfied. You kept your vision focused on Shizuo’s form. Your eyes narrowed as you calculated a new plan.

"Kohana, right?" Shinra also came to your side. He looked you over with a smile. "You sure are a handful. Picking a fight with-"

You ignored the boy’s words and pushed away from Emi. This time, you stepped even further into the street and away from the crowd.

"Think about it, Heiwajima," you shouted at the blonde.

Shizuo had only made it a few yards. He didn't stop walking at the sound of your voice, but you continued. 

"How would you protect anyone you care about anymore?" you asked. Your body tensed. "How would you protect… Kasuka?"

He stopped dead. You could almost see the hairs rising on the back of his neck. Jaw clenched, he turned over his shoulder to lock dark eyes with yours. 

"What the hell do you want, kid?" he growled.

You brushed off the question and continued on with your plan. 

"That is his name right? He's in my class. It sure would be unfortunate if something happened to him and you weren't able to help, wouldn't it?" 

Shizuo's shoulders began to shake and the air around him grew dark. Several bystanders turned to flee, scared of being caught in the range of fire. You heard Emi and Shinra pipe up from behind you. Both suggested that the two of you back off now and go your separate ways. 

But of course, you persisted. You were in too deep to give up now. 

"I mean, have you seen him? He's pretty puny for someone almost five months older than me," you laughed.

That had clearly been a dangerous thing to say. Shizuo had thrown his bag and gotten hold of another street sign. 

"I think…" he growled out between breaths, "that now is a good time for you to _shut up_."

Your eyes darkened, though a mischievous light sparkled in your orbs. 

" _Make me._ " 

The words slipped off your tongue like venom. 

Something changed in the air around you. It wasn't a new tension, but a lack of specific tension that had been there before. For the first time in this encounter you felt a twinge of fear. Like maybe you had made a bad choice. You were pretty sure that missing tension was restraint.

With a loud roar, Shizuo heaved the sign over his head. You didn't move or scream, but you heard Emi shriek and Shinra call out to the blonde. 

The sound of the impact echoed throughout Ikebukuro. The earth shook and dust and debris swirled around your body in seconds, creating a thick cloud that prevented any onlookers from seeing the damage. You felt as though you were dreaming. You couldn't see the sky so you didn't know which way was up or down. You couldn't feel the earth so you didn't know if you were falling or already fell. You could hear your name being shouted at a distance, but you couldn’t recognize the speaker. 

Your head hurt, as if you had run into a wall of bricks. No… pavement? Yes, you could suddenly feel the rough black road beneath you. It was cracked. It must have been, because your feet were sitting higher than your head. 

The dust quickly cleared, allowing a rather interesting scene to be set before the folks watching. From where you lay on the ground, you could see the blue Ikebukuro sky was upside down, as were Emi, Shinra, and Kyohei. The three students quickly ran to you.

"Kohana!" 

Your brother grabbed your shoulders and pulled you over cracked blocks of pavement to rest your head in his lap. 

"Hey…" He shook you, but you didn't answer. "Hey!" he said again.

"She'll be fine." 

The deep voice came from the other side of the broken road. Grabbing his bag once again, Shizuo turned to leave. This time, no one stopped him. Kyohei's dark eyes traveled along the cracks in the asphalt to where the sign had made impact with the ground. It was a few yards from where you had been standing. 

"She's so lucky…" Emi gasped. "He could have killed her." 

Shinra knelt down to examine the pavement and then looked to you and observed your brown eyes. They only thing off about them was that they were glossed over with shock. Shizuo was right; you would be fine. The most he had done to harm you was severely disorient you. You would have your wits together in a few minutes. 

The doctor-in-training responded to your friend with a smile. 

"I don't think so," he laughed, watching his blonde classmate turn the corner of the city block. "I actually think he kind of liked her."

“I think so too.”

The three people surrounding you suddenly turned their focus to the new speaker. Looking down at you with his standard smirk, Izaya approached the group. 

“What an interesting turn today has taken…” He mumbled to himself. 

Kyohei didn’t like the way Izaya’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he looked you over. 

“Oh, hey Izaya,” Shinra said. “I don’t suppose you had anything to do with what just happened?”

Izaya let out a large laugh. “With her?” He gestured to you. “Of course not!”

His shoulders shook as he continued to laugh at the accusation. When he finished, he stood straight and returned his gaze to you. “I couldn’t have planned anything so amazing if I had tried. I just wanted to see those thugs giving Shizu-chan a hard time. Imagine my surprise when a little girl stepped in.”

Izaya’s eyes suddenly snapped to your brother. 

“And not just any girl,” he smiled, “but a little Dotachin! Oh, this is wonderful!” 

He laughed again. Kyohei rolled his eyes.

“I wonder what gave her such an idea,” Izaya said with a shrug. 

Emi finally chimed in with the response. 

“She said… she wanted to know if he would hit a girl,” Emi squeaked. 

Izaya clearly hadn’t been expecting an answer. His eyes were as wide as a fish’s when your classmate spoke. After another moment, a wide smile stretched across his face. 

“So it was purely experimental? How interesting. Has she always been so impulsive, Dotachin?”

“I told you not to call me that,” Kyohei snapped. It was his only response. 

Izaya smirked. He had all the information he wanted anyway. 

“Well, I should be going," he said. "Tell her thanks for the entertainment when she wakes up!” 

With a wave, the raven-haired boy turned on his heel and headed up the street. 

“Hm.” An amused smile stretched across Shinra’s face. “I suppose it could have been a lot worse if Izaya had been involved with this."

“Yeah,” Kyohei said even though he scowled as he watched Izaya in the distance. He felt his stomach flip. “Still, I always get a bad feeling about things when Izaya shows up.”


	6. I Need Help

After escaping from the alley, you headed straight for Izaya’s office. After all of your troubles, you had no intention of waiting until the morning to receive your part of the deal. When you barreled into the office of the info broker and informed him as to why you were so heated, he didn’t hesitate to let out a loud laugh.

“You’re such a snake,” you spat. “You set me up.”

Izaya let out a deep breath to calm his laughter. “Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t,” he smirked.

You rolled your eyes. “If I didn’t need information from you, I’d wring your neck.”

A sparkle flashed in his eyes. Your comment had clearly amused him. 

You ignored his pressing stare and approached the large desk he was sitting at. You dropped the wooden box you had been sent to retrieve on its surface. 

“Here’s your stupid package. Now do I get to ask questions?”

He sat up in his chair and pulled the box closer to him. 

“So hasty, Dotan. Try to have some patience. I need to make sure you held up your end of the deal,” he said. 

You scowled.

Izaya flipped the lid of the box open and carefully observed the contents inside. 

“Well, would you look at that.” His eyes narrowed, and then he fell silent. 

After a long moment, you spoke up again. 

“Does it pass inspection? I’d like some answers now,” you huffed. 

With a smirk, Izaya closed the box and moved it from his desk into a locked drawer. 

“I believe it does.” He reached for a file folder that was sitting on the corner of the desk’s surface. “In return, here’s everything I have on Inazuma Electronics”–he tossed the folder to you–“as promised,” he finished. 

You instantly began flipping through the papers with excitement. One page had the image of a young boy printed on it. You stopped to skim its contents.

_Koji Natsume. Third year at Ikebukuro Senior High. Chief executive officer and owner of Inazuma Electronics._

Upon finishing, your eyes widened and you looked back to the info broker in shock. 

“ _This_ is who bought out Inazuma? You expect me to believe this?” You held the paper up for Izaya to see. 

He smiled. “That’s what it says, doesn’t it?”

You couldn’t help but turn your nose up at the picture of the boy. He was short with darker skin and spikey brown hair. He didn’t look impressive. He definitely didn’t look like someone with enough money to buy out an entire business. 

“He’s the one who stole my flash drive that night… The night I ran into you at the company building,” you said in almost a whisper. 

Izaya seemed to remain unfazed. “What a coincidence,” he said.

You frowned deeply and shut the manila folder. You looked to the man with cold, serious eyes. 

“You know more than you’re letting on,” you started. “You still haven’t told me what you were doing there that night.” 

He shrugged his shoulders and spun around in his chair. “Like I said, it’s a personal interest.”

You snorted in response. You were dissatisfied, though you knew you weren’t going to get a better answer out of him. 

You moved to the couches centered in the middle of the room and sat down. On the coffee table in front of you, you opened up the folder once again and spread out the papers. 

Izaya spoke up from behind you. “I didn’t realize you were planning on staying,” he said.

You didn’t look up from the printed pages. 

“Just until I decide I don’t have anymore questions,” you said. “After setting me up to see Shizuo like that, I think you owe me.” 

The raven-haired male chuckled. “I only wish I had seen the look on his face.” 

Izaya stood from his desk and walked to the couches. He leaned over the back edge and his voice fell into a whisper. 

“Poor Shizu-chan. He’s probably out looking for you right now,” he said.

Your shoulders tensed and your eyebrows twitched. “Shut up, Izaya.” 

The truth was that you knew Shizuo was looking for you. You had left him as suddenly as you had appeared. After almost four years, all you could croak out was ‘I’m sorry’. You felt like an idiot. Your own words stung as they rang in your head. You had to shake them away and force your attention to stay on the papers in front of you. 

“It just doesn’t make sense that some kid from Ikebukuro Senior High would have enough money to buy out an entire company, even a failing one,” you said out loud, though you weren’t looking for a response. 

Izaya laughed. “No it doesn’t”–he came around to the front of the couch and sat down next to you–“but sometimes people surprise you.”

You tried to ignore his sudden closeness. You singled out another paper from the pile. It contained a list of all of the shipments received at the Inazuma Electronics building since being bought three months prior. 

“They’ve certainly been busy,” you mumbled, reading over each shipment carefully. “A majority of these are from… Takahata Power Technologies? What the hell do they do?” This time you looked to Izaya for an answer. 

He only stretched his arms up and placed them behind his head. “Can’t say I’ve ever heard of them before,” he said. 

Your cheeks grew hot with frustration. He was always annoying, but you had reached your limit for the evening. You couldn’t help but feel as though you were playing one of his little games exactly as he wanted you to, and it made you livid. 

Your emotions quickly jumped ahead of your reasoning. In one swift movement your body flipped itself up and onto the relaxing info broker. Your legs straddled his hips and your left hand pinned his shoulder to the couch. His eyes flashed open with amusement, only to see that your own orbs were clouded over with anger. It was a look he had seen before. 

Your right hand reached into the pocket of your sweatshirt to pull out your knife, so you could press it to his neck. Only, there was no knife in your pocket. You suddenly remembered how it had been tossed aside in the alley. 

Izaya watched your angered expression fade into shock, and he smirked. 

“Not this again,” he practically hissed. 

Even faster than you had pinned him down, he was on top of you. He grabbed your wrist and flipped your body over with ease. Your back was pressed flush against the sofa. He towered over you. His knees were on either side of your waist and his right hand pinned your arm above your head. His left hand had reached for his own knife, which he now had pressed against your collarbone. 

You scoffed, irritated. This was the second time in one night that you were held at knifepoint due to your own stupidity. 

He brought the point of the blade to your chin, forcing your eyes to look up and lock with his. 

“You need to start learning from your past mistakes, Hana.”

His use of your real name made you shiver. You hated it. 

“You’re still lying to me,” you spat back. 

He only smiled and leaned into your body, applying more pressure to your wrist and to the knife on your skin.

“And what if I am? What would you do with all of these answers I’m not telling you, hm? Sneak into their offices at night and hack their systems? Or go barreling into the main lobby during the day? Would you come after me again?” He was now only inches from your face. “Do you even have a plan at all?” he sneered. 

Your insides were burning with anger. You felt weak and pathetic. You also felt an intense desire to punch him in the nose. You squirmed under his mass, attempting to break free of his hold but he only applied more pressure. You stilled. 

“You’re as reckless as you were seven years ago,” he said seriously. 

He held you down for another moment that was just long enough for you to grow uncomfortable under his heavy gaze. He then tucked his blade back into his pocket and stood. 

You didn’t sit up right away. Instead you remained on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. Izaya’s words still echoed in your head. 

 

It was almost nine o’clock when you stepped back onto the streets of Ikebukuro. Your hair was thrown up into your hood once again, and the folder you had packed up was now under your shirt. You had tried to regain as much composure as you could before leaving Izaya’s office so your tail wouldn’t be too far between your legs. Still, as you walked away from the building you couldn’t help but feel like a kicked puppy. What he said was true; you barely had a plan. This trip to the city had become more complicated than you ever could have imagined. It was supposed to be a simple job, but after getting robbed, running into Izaya, and having to see Shinra it quickly snowballed into a not-so-simple job.

As you approached the crosswalk, a small thought appeared in your mind. 

You could leave. 

It was the first time you had thought about it. Originally, the amount of money you were supposed to be getting from your buyer was worth chasing down a robber. Now the work you had ahead of you outweighed the price of your stolen program. Additionally, the likelihood of you getting any form of payment from them was very small. 

You felt like your time with Izaya had been wasted. You had reached out to him because you found him poking around Inazuma Electronics the night you had been robbed, but this was clearly just a game to him. You suddenly wished you had trusted someone –anyone- else from the start.

In your heart, you knew you weren’t ready to leave the city yet. The light changed, signaling for you to cross, but you didn’t move. There was no one else around. You pulled your phone from your pocket and, almost instinctively, you pressed a number that was still set to speed-dial. You brought the device to your ear. You heard it ring twice, and then heard silence. 

“Celty, hi…” you began, “I don’t really know why I’m calling.” You paused. “I’m sorry I wasn’t more open with you yesterday, but the truth is...”–you looked up to see a pair of headlights appear down the street–“I don’t have a plan. I need hel-“

Just as you moved to cross, you felt a harsh tug on your shoulders. It sent you stumbling backwards into the chest of a large person. Your phone slipped from your hand and clattered to the ground. Your attacker wrapped one arm around your shoulders, keeping you square to his chest. You quickly realized he wasn’t alone when you felt a new pair of hands grab at your sweatshirt. 

The adrenaline began coursing through you and you leaned back into your first attacker to deliver a heavy kick to the second. He fell backward for a moment, but his hands were quickly on you again. 

“Don’t touch me!” you spat. You then resorted to biting at the arm around your shoulders as the other pair of arms slinked up under your sweater and grabbed the hidden folder. 

“Dammit!” you cried. 

Deciding you had few other options, you pushed back to deliver one more kick. This time you knocked the folder out of your attacker’s hands. The pages flew up and backwards before they rained down around you. 

A damp cloth was quickly brought to your face. You cursed again as your vision began to fade and your muscles went limp. Before your vision went black, you swore you saw a dark van pulling up to the curb in front of you.

\- - -

It was almost nine when Erika and Walker climbed into the back of Saburo’s van with their newest haul of manga and short fiction novels. They were supposed to be eating sushi by now, but the dynamic duo’s trip to the bookstore had taken longer than expected (as usual).

Kyohei didn’t complain, but his stomach did let out a loud grumble in protest to being delayed food. 

“Come on guys, hurry it up a little,” Kyohei said to the pair in the back of the van who hadn’t yet closed the door. They were eagerly chatting about the new books they had bought. As soon as the door was shut, Saburo started the van and pulled out into the road. 

“Hey, did you guys hear? That new woman running for governor said she would stop all the crime in Ikebukuro if she wins the election!” Walker excitedly exclaimed. 

“Yeah, she even said she’d do it in the first six months!” Erika chimed in with equal enthusiasm. 

Saburo scoffed. “Yeah right. How does she plan on doing that?”

Walker threw his hands up for dramatic effect. “No one knows!” 

“She hasn’t told anyone!” Erika continued. “I think she’s secretly a vampire who plans to feast on the city’s most terrible criminals.”

“No, she definitely give’s off more of an angel-in-disguise sort of vibe,” said Walker. “Her skin is so fair!” 

“Yeah, well it sounds too good to be true,” Saburo cut in as he turned the wheel of the van around a street corner. 

Kyohei didn’t speak up, but he agreed. It felt like crime would never stop in Ikebukuro.

“Ah-ha, and here comes trouble now,” Saburo almost laughed. 

The three van passengers sat up in their seats and looked out the front window. Sure enough, they appeared to have stumbled upon a robbery. Two men in masks were physically restraining what looked like a young boy. Without consulting the group, Saburo brought the van to a screeching halt in front of the scene; he could already sense Kyohei’s eagerness to step in and assist. 

The tires of the van hit the curb and Kyohei threw himself out of the passenger side and crossed the road. As he did, the victim threw an aggressive kick, sending papers flying into the air and fluttering down in all directions. 

“What the hell?” Saburo sputtered out before rushing in behind Kyohei. 

As soon as the two masked attackers saw the van gang approaching, they dropped their victim and turned to run. The largest one slipped around the corner, but Kyohei managed to grab the little one by his shirt collar before he could escape.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Saburo taunted as he ran after the larger male.

Holding him down to the pavement, Kyohei removed the mask of the attacker only to reveal a young boy, no older than a high school senior. The boy immediately began blubbering out excuses. 

“Please, wait! Don’t hurt me. I- I- I don’t even know the girl. I don’t even know what’s in that file!” Crocodile tears streamed down his cheeks. 

Kyohei noticed the bottle of chloroform that had fallen to the pavement and scowled. “Are you working for Yagiri Pharmaceuticals?” 

It had been several months since their previous encounter with human traffickers, but he felt it was necessary to ask. 

“What? No way, man. It was just some woman. She approached us after school and offered us cash.” The boy reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a wad of bills. “I don’t even want it anymore. Take it. I promise I won’t ever do this again!” he cried, shoving the bills under Kyohei’s nose.

At that moment, Saburo came back around the corner dragging the unconscious body of the larger student. Kyohei smirked.

“No, you won’t” he said. 

 

It only took a moment for Saburo and Kyohei to bind the two boys hands and tie them to a nearby bike rack. 

“That should keep you cozy until the police arrive,” Kyohei started. “Now, what were you going to do with that file?”

“Nothing! Honestly, we were told to burn it!” the young boy chirped. 

Kyohei bent down to pick up one of the loose pages that had gotten caught under his foot, but his gaze quickly moved to another object. A small red phone lay open on the sidewalk. He picked it up and held it to his ear, but heard nothing on the other line.

“This is werid,” Walker said, grabbing the paper that Kyohei had left on the ground. “All of it is about some old phone company.” 

Kyohei stared at the phone in his hand intensely. 

“Yeah," he muttered, "I don’t have a good feeling about this."

His attention was quickly diverted to the parked van when he heard Saburo shout an expletive. After assisting Kyohei in tying up the students, Saburo had gone to check on Erika who had moved the victim to the car. 

“You... probably want to come see this…” Saburo trailed off.

Kyohei gripped the small flip phone and headed for the van. Walker was close behind. As Kyohei came to look in the trunk, he recoiled in shock. He pulled a sharp breath in through his teeth.

Erika looked at him with wide eyes. “Hm? Dotachin, do you know her?” 

Erika had removed your hood and pulled your brown waves out from underneath. You were still unconscious; your head was resting against the pile of books Erika and Walker had loaded the car with only ten minutes earlier. Your sweatshirt was large on your frame, but he could still see the way your chest gently rose and fell as if you were in an innocent, voluntary slumber. 

Kyohei felt the stare of his two young friends drilling holes into his coat. They were anxiously awaiting his response. 

“Yeah,” he began softly. His grip on your red phone tightened. “That’s my sister.”


	7. You're Insane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, friends! Thank you so much for your patience. This story is my baby, so trust me I am not giving up on it, it just takes me forever and a half to write a chapter! Thank you for reading, and please enjoy!

**_Six years ago…_ **

It had only been a year since you capriciously approached Shizuo Heiwajima for a fight outside of your junior high school, and yet so much had changed. 

You were accepted to Raira, the same high school your brother attended. It made it easier for your parents to keep track of you. They had obviously been informed of your stunt during your last year of middle school, and had kept an annoyingly close watch on you ever since. Your acceptance to Raira gave them a bit of a break, since they could instruct Kyohei to look after you instead. 

Kyohei had warned you that the teachers at Raira would be stricter than your teachers in junior high, so you needed to behave. 

You made it a week before Kyohei was pulled from class to meet with you and your homeroom teacher. It wasn’t usual practice to bring older siblings into teacher meetings, but your brother was a model student, and your homeroom teacher probably figured it would remind you of all the potential you were “wasting”. 

You had gotten caught pulling a harmless prank with some of your new friends. The boys in your class had figured out that you were rather skilled with computer programming – something you had taught yourself during summer vacation. It was their idea to hack into the intercom system and replace the usual bell with clips of Japan’s top trending songs; you simply executed it. The other students seemed to enjoy it, but the teachers were less than amused. How the staff figured out it was you, you weren’t sure, but they didn’t catch the classmates who had approached you about it. 

So, you remained the sole perpetrator and the only student to be punished. The meeting with your homeroom teacher and Kyohei seemed punishment enough, but you were also instructed to attend three sessions of mandatory study time on Saturdays, since the time you spent on your prank “clearly interrupted your time spent on academics”. 

To top it all off, there was the walk home with Kyohei after school. 

“You’ve only been at Raira for a week, Hana. You should be taking your classes more seriously,” your brother scolded. 

You rolled your eyes but continued to walk alongside him down the city block quietly. 

“Raira is a good school, don’t waste this opportunity,” he continued. 

You pursed your lips and wrinkled your nose. Your fingers began pulling at the straps of your backpack. You were growing more and more irritated. 

“I know you’re smart, Hana, but I don’t want to see you throw away your future by hanging out with the wrong people,” he sighed.

You rolled your eyes and let out a short breath. “Yes, sir,” you said. 

There was a hint of sarcasm in your voice. It wasn’t enough for Kyohei to call you out for being rude, but he did give you a look as a warning.

A quick chime from your phone interrupted whatever else it was your brother was going to say. You quickly pulled a shiny red phone from your pocket and read the text on the screen.

Kyohei looked at the small phone in your hand and scowled. It was a brand new flip phone; one of the new models that were the current rage. He knew it was expensive. 

“Where did you get that?” he asked accusingly. 

You tucked the phone back into your pocket. You had reached an intersection, and you both stopped at the edge of the crosswalk. 

“I saved up my money,” you said with a smile. The frown on your brother’s face told you he wasn’t buying it. 

“Don’t be weird,” you scowled. “It’s not like I stole it.”

As the light changed, you turned on your heel to cross the road in the opposite direction of home. 

“Anyways, I’ve got someone I need to go meet. See you later.” You entered the crosswalk before your brother could ask you any more questions. 

Kyohei called your name as you turned, but when you didn’t stop he let it be. He was frustrated and annoyed. You had always been the more difficult sibling for your parents to handle. You were smart and curious, and it got you into trouble. Still, Kyohei couldn’t help but feel that your most recent behavior was going to get you into danger, and it saddened him to think that he might not be there to help you.

 

When you reached the other side of the road and turned to head into town, you pulled your phone out once again to type back a simple response to your messenger. 

_On my way._

As you put the phone back into your pocket, you looked up to see a familiar mop of blonde hair heading in the same direction you were. You called out to him, and he stopped to look back at you.

You pranced up to the boy with a large grin on your face.

“Hey, Shizuo!” you beamed. 

You had run into Shizuo a total of three times within the past year. The first time, you apologized for being annoying and instigating a fight. You also thanked him for not killing you. He hadn’t responded, but you took his silence as an acceptance of your apology. 

The second time, you ran into him buying milk at a corner store. You told him you never liked regular milk, but for some reason you loved chocolate milk. He hadn’t said much then either. 

The last time, you found him after a fight. It had happened right after your entrance exam for Raira. The fight was over almost as soon as it started, but Shizuo was still pretty beat up afterwards. During the commotion, one of his shoes had gone flying and landed right in your path. You tracked him down in a nearby park. He had been sitting on a bench looking particularly annoyed and worn out. You approached just to return his shoe, but when he looked up at you, you noticed he had blood dripping down his cheek. Without thinking, you reached into your bag for an antibacterial wipe and pressed it to his face. You told him you used to fall down a lot as a kid and scrape your knees or elbows, so you got used to always carrying wipes with you. 

You ended up sitting with him in the park until you had treated all of his cuts and bruises to the best of your ability. It was almost an hour of time together, and so you had told him about your Raira exam and he wished you luck on the results before you each went your separate ways. 

Now, as you bopped up to the third year with a toothy smile, you made sure to show off the school uniform you were wearing that was unique to Raira Academy. 

“Like my new outfit?” you asked, giving a spin. 

He noticed right away. “Good job, kid,” he said with a small smile. He turned to continue down the sidewalk and you fell into step beside him. 

“Kind of crazy that we’re like classmates now,” you prodded, observing his own matching Raira uniform.

“Not quite,” he responded, only seeming mildly surprised at your lack of acknowledgement of his upperclassman status. 

You followed along beside him in silence for another half block before speaking up again. 

“So, where are you headed?” 

He gave you a skeptical look out of the corner of his eye before responding flatly. 

“Home,” he said. 

You smiled up at him. Something about the thought of the infamous Shizuo Heiwajima -a man capable of throwing cars down a city block- at home, curled up on a couch with a cup of tea made you happy. 

“Is that near Seibu?” you asked. “That’s where I’m headed. Maybe you could walk me there? It can be so scary out here for a young lady.” 

Your request was bold, but he didn’t seem bothered. Rather, he seemed amused. 

“Something tells me you can handle yourself,” he said with the smallest of smiles.

You pouted and gave a roll of your eyes. “You’re no fun,” you mumbled. 

You heard a small buzz come from Shizuo’s pocket. You watched him reach in and pull out a small flip phone before opening it up and reading the incoming message. 

There was something special about watching Shizuo be human. Your last encounter in the park had been far more personal than you ever would have imagined, but he had still been bruised, covered in blood, and a little grumpy. That was how most people who knew Shizuo Heiwajima’s name probably imagined him. 

Something in this moment was different. His uniform was clean and in one piece. He had both of his shoes and his hair was, for the most part, neat. He was calm and relaxed. He looked like a normal high school student. It made you feel special that he was able to be relaxed around you. 

After another moment in silence together, he looked down to see that you were still watching him closely. He let out a deep sigh. 

“Don’t you have friends in your own class you could bother?” he asked gruffly.

Your face returned to a pout as you looked away from the blonde haired third year and down to the pavement. “Not really,” you said. “Emi goes to school in Shibuya, so I rarely see her. I made a couple new friends at Raira but Kyohei says I shouldn’t hang out with them. He’s worried they’re a bad influence.” The irritation in your tone was clear. 

“He’s probably right,” Shizuo cut in. 

You rolled your eyes and continued on. 

“Anyways,” you started, “I was thinking we could be friends,” you chirped. 

Before Shizuo even had a chance to let out a confused ‘What?’, you had taken the small flip phone from his hand and began punching in your own number. 

“Friends have each other’s numbers, so here’s mine.” You quickly typed in your digits and handed the closed phone back to him. “Don’t worry, I didn’t message myself or anything.“

The blonde didn’t say anything in return. Instead, he merely stared at you with wide eyes that were dripping with surprise. Your confidence was both irritating and charming, and he didn’t know how to respond. 

“I’m being honest,” you said defensively, mistaking his silence as skepticism. “I like getting to know you. So you know,”-you halted at a street corner-“if you ever wanted to get to know me, I’m open to it.” Another moment of uncomfortable silence passed. In an attempt to break it you smiled and added, “I know I’m younger than you, but I’m pretty cool too.”

The small smile that appeared at the corner of Shizuo’s mouth told you it worked. You thanked him for walking with you this far, before heading across the street in the opposite direction.

 

Your destination was only another block or so from where you split off. In truth, you weren’t entirely sure where you were going. The instructions in the message had been minimal and vague, so when you arrived at the Seibu mall parking-garage, you found yourself wandering multiple levels for a while before you finally located the person you were meeting. 

“How nice of you to finally show up, _Dotan_.”

The greeting was dripping with sly sarcasm and you responded with a roll of your eyes. 

“Sorry, you picked a dumb location that was hard to find, _Izaya_ ,” you scoffed. You swung your book bag off your back and began unzipping it. “Who’s this?” you asked, referring to two men standing just to the side of Izaya. Usually, you and Izaya were alone for these encounters.

Almost a month after you had instigated a fight with Shizuo, you ran into Izaya outside of Russia Sushi. You didn’t know who he was, but he recognized you right away. You had initially been quite impressed with how polite he was when he introduced himself and you were quite smitten that he seemed entertained by your boldness. 

In his typical character, he seemed to know a lot about you. He chose the nickname Dotan, keeping consistent with his nickname for your brother. He also knew that you had taken up online hacking as a hobby, and it wasn’t long after your first official introduction that he approached you with your first job. For 50,000 yen, all you had to do was design software that could bypass computer logins on a company system. It was easy work.

You delivered Izaya the program, and he gave you the money. It was a good system. Over the next year, the work became more difficult but the money came in more frequently, and in higher amounts. You had also gotten to spend more than you fair share of quality time with the info-broker and learned quickly how slimy he was capable of being. But the money was good, and so you stuck around. Your most recent job was a more complicated program that could freeze an advanced security system at a specific time. Getting the software to communicate with a clock system was seriously annoying, but you were expecting over 550,000 yen. 

Izaya smirked and stepped toward you. “These are your buyers, Dotan. You should be more polite.” 

Your body quickly tensed and you shifted under the gaze of the two strangers. They were clearly amused by you, and by the way their eyes roamed over your figure, you assumed it was for more than just your brains.

You were unhappy. You had never interacted with any buyers before and you never wanted to; you’d be giving Izaya some serious sass for this later. For now, you took a deep breath and tried to remain cool and confident. You turned toward the men with a smile and gave a very small bow. 

“My apologies,” you cooed with a hint of sarcasm. When you stood, you reached your hand out to Izaya to give him the small flash drive that contained the requested software. He took it from you, and before turning back to the two men, flashed you a quick devilish smirk.

You suddenly had a very bad feeling. 

“Okay gentlemen,” Izaya began, waving the flash drive in his hand so they could see he had it, “I’ve showed you mine, now show me yours.”

You shivered when the two men gave each other a knowing look. One stepped towards Izaya, and the other towards you.

“About that,” the one near Izaya spoke up. He had a deep, intimidating voice. “Our boss doesn’t seem to think you gave us a fair price. Now that we know you’ve got little girls doing the work, we agree it’s worth a lot less.” 

The second of the two men came to stand behind you. You knew he was trying to block you from running. You were scared; you could hear your heartbeat in your ears. When you tried to gain some distance between yourself and the man by casually stepping towards Izaya, he grabbed your wrist and yanked it behind your back, causing a sharp yelp to erupt from your throat. 

Izaya looked to you and then back to the man standing in front of him. He didn’t falter or even frown. He simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, as if he had been expecting this to happen. 

“Oh dear. Is this because Dotan was so rude?” Izaya practically laughed. 

The male standing across from him gave a nasty grin. “You should take us seriously,” he sneered. “We don’t like hurting pretty girls.”

The man’s grip on your arm tightened and you let out another yelp. Izaya looked to you again. Even though you wanted, now more than ever, to punch the raven-haired man in the face, you found that you could only stare with wide eyes, pleading for him to shut up.

“Hm,” Izaya started, turning back to the man standing in front of him. “Really, you think she’s pretty? I can’t say I’ve ever noticed; she just looks so much like her brother. If you met him, you’d understand what I mean.”

Now your face fell into a deep scowl and you shouted, “You idiot!” As you did, you lunged forward a little, causing the man behind you to grab your one free arm and pull it behind your back as well. 

Izaya paid you no mind. Instead, he carried on. 

“So you see, unlike you there’s nothing holding me back,” he smirked. 

You quickly understood what Izaya was talking about when he pulled out a knife. This of course caused the two men to pull out similar weapons, and one was now pressing into your lower back. 

“Why don’t we play a little game then? If I throw this, what are the chances of me hitting him instead of her? Let’s take guesses. Dotan, what do you think?” Izaya once again turned back toward you. The two men looked at each other in confusion. 

“You’re _insane!_ ” you hissed, wriggling against your captor whose body you were covering more than ninety percent of. The man seemed to be slinking behind you even more now.

Izaya turned back to the first man again. “How about you?” he asked. 

The man looked nervously to his partner, clearly shaken by the sudden shift in power. With a forced smile, he looked toward Izaya and said as confidently as he could, “You wouldn’t.” 

Your breath caught in your throat as Izaya’s eyes narrowed and his grin grew bigger. 

“Wouldn’t I?” he hissed. 

In an instant, the knife left his hand and came hurdling towards you. You had let out a gasp and so had the man behind you, so when you felt blood dripping down your leg, you had to take a moment to figure out if it was yours. 

Then suddenly, your captor fell to his knees with a screech and you saw Izaya’s knife embedded deeply into his left thigh. When the other man figured out what had happened, he lunged at the now defenseless Izaya with his own weapon. 

In your panicked state, survival instinct took over and you reached down to grab the blade the wounded man had been holding. He had dropped it to the pavement when he fell. 

Once your attacker saw the blade in your palms, he pulled Izaya’s knife from his own thigh and pointed it at you. With Izaya now preoccupied, you were on your own. 

Kyohei had tried to teach you how to fight once, just before you entered your second year of middle school. He was headed into his first year at Raira, which meant for the first time you’d be walking home from school alone. You suddenly wished you had paid more attention. 

Your attacker stood, and made a sloppy lunge toward you. You dodged, and quickly remembered your brother’s first piece of advice. 

_You have to commit to the fight,_ he said. _If someone is ready to hurt you, you have to be prepared to do whatever it takes to stop them; you can’t be afraid to hurt them instead._

The man’s lunge left his dominant arm exposed, and so with a shout you did the only thing you could think of and swiped your own knife at his forearm. The blade made contact, and blood instantly covered your palms. He dropped the knife and fell to his knees again with another scream. 

You grabbed the second knife, leaving the man weaponless. You kept both pointed towards him, hands shaking. 

Izaya called out to you from behind. You turned just enough to see him dodge a swipe himself. As soon as there was an opening, you tossed him the switchblade. 

Izaya grabbed it from the air with ease. With his athletic prowess, and his favorite weapon back in his grasp, Izaya quickly had the upper hand. You watched as he kicked the knife from his opponent’s fingers and then grabbed the man by the shirt collar and pushed him to the ground. He held the knife to his pale throat, and the man raised his palms in surrender. 

Izaya’s voice was deep and startling when he finally spoke. “You see, I’m a generous guy. So you can tell your boss that if he still wants the program, he can have it for one million.”

You choked on your own breath, hearing the amount of money. 

“Go ahead, run along now,” Izaya taunted. He gave a wave of his wrist, and the man bolted to his partner who was still knelt down behind you. The first man pulled the second to his feet, and helped him into a nearby car before speeding away with tires squealing. 

As soon as the car was out of site, you dropped to your knees. Your body was shaking viciously and tears formed in the corners of your eyes. Your nose wrinkled at the smell of blood on your hands and leg.

Izaya came to stand over you. “I’m impressed. Did Dotachin teach you that?”

A deep growl erupted from your throat as you looked up at him with tears in your eyes.

“What the _hell!?_ ” you spat. “You knew that would happen.”

Izaya shrugged his shoulders. “Not really,” he started. “I had a feeling they weren’t going to play nice, but that happens sometimes.” The info broker knelt down in front of you. Your eyes locked with his and you followed him down. 

“Not everyone is a nice guy,” he said with a slight hiss in his tone. 

You felt Izaya place something in the palm of your shaking hand. You looked down to see the golden knife your attacker had left behind. 

“Keep it,” Izaya said, standing. “You’re moving up in the world, _little Dotan_.” His words were delivered with a smirk. 

“I’ll be holding on to this,” Izaya said placing your flash drive into the pocket of his coat. “I have a feeling they’ll be reaching out again soon.” He looked to you once more before turning on his heel to leave. “I’ll be keeping in touch,” he said. With that, he left. 

You sat on the ground, staring at the blood on you leg, at the blood on the concrete, and at the knife in your hand. You wanted to vomit. You wanted to scream. Even more than that though, you wanted to get up and get over it. You decided long ago you weren’t going to be a girl that needed anyone to hold her hand. 

You curled your fingers around the knife and stood. You grabbed your backpack that had fallen to the pavement, and pulled out one of your wipes to clean your hands with. After discarding the bloodied wipe on the ground, you headed for the exit. 

As you stepped back onto the busy streets of Ikebukuro and into a world of strangers completely oblivious to the events you had just faced, your phone gave a buzz from where it sat in your jacket pocket. 

You pulled out the phone and saw you had a new message from an unknown number. You flipped it open to read it. 

_So, tell me what I should know about you._

A smile quickly came to your face. The simple message had lifted a heavy weight from your shoulders. 

You hastily began typing a response, overjoyed to have a distraction from the frightening encounters that had just become part of your world.


	8. We Care About You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possibly a record posting time for me. Hope you all are still enjoying; I love this lil story so much. Comments are much appreciated, so share your thoughts on this chapter and the last! I'm always excited to hear from you guys. 
> 
> I'll be going away for the weekend, so it may be a minute before you hear from me again. But that's nothing new. Seriously though, I'm on a roll and I can't wait to keep going!

There were only two times your parents sat you down for a serious conversation. The first was right before you entered high school. They told you how babies were made and told you that you would be doing absolutely none of that. They told you that if any boy ever asked you to do any of that, you would tell them no and study harder.

The second time was when they told you were going to live with your grandparents. 

Both were equally frustrating and uncomfortable.

Neither compared to the situation you found yourself in only moments after waking up from your involuntary nap.

The entire situation was uncomfortable. You were in a private dining room at Russia Sushi. Only seconds after you came to, Simon entered the room with massive trays of sushi. He was the only one speaking as you took in your surroundings; as he kept congratulating you on your homecoming, Kyohei’s eyes seemed to grow a little darker. After Simon exited, you sat in silence.

On either side of you sat a young boy and girl; the gaze of their stares was so intense you felt a physical pressure squeezing on your shoulders. You pressed your arms to your sides, trying to create more space between you and the two strangers. 

Across from you were Kyohei and his old friend Saburo. You still weren’t confident that this wasn’t a dream. Kyohei’s eyes were darker than you had ever seen them before. He didn’t blink. His gaze was certainly harsher than those coming from the strangers beside you, and you were almost sure that it was harsher than your father’s had ever been. Yes, this could have been a nightmare. 

It seemed like no one else wanted to be the first to talk, so you cleared your throat and squeaked out the only thing you figured was appropriate. 

“Thank you all for… saving me,” you muttered with a bow. 

You heard the boy and girl next to you let out a small gasp, and saw their eyes widen. There was another brief moment of silence and then:

“You are so cute!” The boy next to you cried. 

“You’re the perfect little sister type for Dotachin!”

Their comments instantly shook Kyohei from his serious mood. 

“Don’t be gross!” He shouted with a scowl.

You were instantly overwhelmed as everyone began chattering around you. You had only met a handful of Kyohei’s friends when you were in Ikebukuro and none of them were ever this rambunctious. Your ice-breaker seemed to have done more than just get conversation started; the steamroller of questions had just begun.

“How come you never told us you had a sister, Dotachin?” The girl asked, looking to your brother.

Kyohei shrugged and looked to the side. “It never came up.”

The young boy was dissatisfied. “No way, you can’t say that! What about all those times we said you were the big brother type?”

Saburo shoved a piece of shrimp in his mouth and spoke up too.

“They’ve got a point,” he said.

The young girl pointed a finger at him in response. “You never said anything about it either!” she accused. 

The boy’s attention turned back to you. 

“I think, because he never told us about you, it’s only fair that we each get to ask you one question!” he smiled. “I’m Walker by the way, and this is Erika,” he said. Erika grinned next to you.

You were so overwhelmed you could barely stutter out your “Okay,” and “I’m Kohana.” Walker and Erika cooed over your quiet stammering.

“Alright, I’ll start,” Walker began. His tone turned serious. “I want to know… what was Dotachin like in middle school?”

You recoiled a little in surprise and amusement. Kyohei was the opposite of amused. You supposed it made sense that your brother was an enigma even to his friends. You had never been able to understand one another.

Erika and Walker sat patiently, waiting for your response. 

“Um,” you began, “quiet and… large?” 

Erika and Walker ‘ooh-ed’ in amusement. Walker then excitedly added, “Please elaborate!”

You brought your hand to your chin and looked up. “Well,” you thought, “he was just… he was always bigger than the other kids. Quieter than everyone else for sure, but he was taller… and he had to grow into those caveman shoulder he has.”

Your comment caused Saburo to almost choke on a piece of tuna. 

“I think he’s almost as tall as Shizuo actually,” you added, getting Walker and Erika even more excited.

“You know Shizuo Heiwajima too!?” Walker asked.

You quickly realized what you had said and pressed your lips together. 

Kyohei quickly cut in, saving you from having to explain.

“Alright, you asked your question-“ he began, but Erika spoke up and cut him off herself. 

“Wait, it’s my turn now!” 

The girl stared at you for a long moment. Her face was pensive; she was carefully thinking over what she was going to ask. Finally, her eyes brightened and she sat upright. 

“Okay,” she began, “why is it that we’ve never met you before?”

Walker leaned in with excitement. “Good one!” he said. “Lot’s of potential for more information!” 

You began biting on your lower lip, trying to think up the best way to explain the situation that would lead to the least amount of follow-up questions. 

“Well, I actually don’t live in the city anymore. When I was in high school, I moved out to a small town in the countryside to live with my grandparents. My parents thought it would be safer.” 

You could feel Kyohei’s gaze darken. 

You continued. “I still live out there now. I don’t usually have a reason to come into the city, so I’m not around a lot.”

There. You were confident you had answered in a way that would be satisfying enough and lead to zero follow-up questions. Then a harsh voice broke the silence. 

“So why are you here?”

Kyohei had turned serious again, and you recoiled a little under his heavy stare. 

Neither Erika nor Walker made a sound. Saburo had even stopped chewing his piece of fish. Everyone in the room had their eyes on you, eagerly waiting to hear what you would say in response to your brother’s question. 

“Well…” you squeaked. You were so unsure of what to say. 

You quickly grew uncomfortable under their gazes. Even though they were clearly close with your brother and they had saved you from some serious trouble earlier, they were still complete strangers to you. You didn’t know how much would be safe to reveal to them, and more than that you didn’t actually _want_ to reveal anything. If you had wanted your brother’s help, you would have come looking for him. As far as you were concerned, your reason for being in the city was still none of his, or anyone else’s business. 

“Kyohei, I don’t-“ 

You began to say you didn’t think that was a reasonable question to ask you in front of people you weren’t familiar with, but he quickly cut you off. 

“Whatever you’re going to say, you can say it to all of us. I think you owe them that much.”

You could tell by their body language that both Walker and Erika were excited, and even uplifted by Kyohei vouching for them. After finding you in such a terrible situation, of course they were as curious as Kyohei to know what thrilling chain of events had put you in their path. 

You dropped your head and sighed in defeat. Perhaps it was the guilt you felt for them having to rescue you, or just the fact that you needed to get everything off of your chest, but you told them your story. 

“I took a job,” you started. "Computer hacking," you clarified for Walker and Erika. You noticed Kyohei stiffen, but he didn’t speak so you continued on. 

“It was from an anonymous buyer. They reached out to me online, and said they needed it quickly. Most of my jobs are from out of town, and I never travel for the delivery. This one was different though; the coding was complicated and the entire program is extremely dynamic. It took some serious work, but they were also offering a lot of money.

“They told me not to send it through the mail, and I agreed that traveling would be safer. I made it into Ikebukuro last Wednesday night. I was waiting to hear about a meet up location. Turned out whoever the buyer was had other intentions; they sent a kid to my hotel room Thursday night to snag the stupid thing. I caught him leaving and chased him down to an abandoned warehouse that used to belong to a phone company called Inazuma Electronics.”

Walker let out an excited gasp.

“That’s why you had the file on them!” he said. 

You nodded, and continued on. 

“I tried getting into the building, but I got caught snooping around and I was… surprised, by an old acquaintance.” 

Kyohei’s eye’s darted to the gash in your blue pullover.

“Izaya…” he practically growled, causing the other people in the room to let out sounds of shock and amusement. 

You nodded again.

“I still don’t know what he was doing there, but I should have known right away it was nothing good. Still, he was the only lead I had on getting my program back. So I went to him for more information on Inazuma Electronics. Turns out he’s still hiding stuff from me.”

Erika leaned forward as she asked her next question. Her eyes were as wide as a baby deer's.

“The guys who tried to take the folder from you right before we showed up were just a couple of kids too. They said a lady paid them cash; do you know who they were?”

You only shook your head no in response. "I had only just picked it up when they found me and tried to take it," you said. Before you could continue, Kyohei crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. 

"After all this time, and you still trusted Izaya Orihara before anyone else," he said, with no attempt to hide the disappointment or judgment in his tone. "There are other people in Ikebukuro who care about you, Hana." His words came out with a slight bite to them.

Erika and Walker's ears perked up. You knew their minds must have been flooding with questions of clarification.

You rolled your eyes and gave a loud huff. It was typical of your brother to criticize, and it was one of the reason’s you didn’t want to talk about what had happened in the first place. 

"What, you would have preferred I came to you?” you snapped back. “Because for some reason I'm doubting that you would have been eager to assist in this case; at least not without a lecture first." The last part of your sentence came out underneath your breath, but Kyohei heard it all the same. 

Your brother’s eyes grew even darker than before and his voiced was raised when he quickly responded, "Yeah, well at least you wouldn't have been put in danger." 

Your fist came down on the table, causing all of the glassware to rattle. "Damn it, Kyohei, stop treating me like a child!" 

His retort was quick and aggressive: "Then stop acting like one."

The air in the small room was tense and heavy. No one moved or spoke for a long while. Finally, you let out a deep sigh and grabbed the folder on Inazuma Electronics off the table where Kyohei had placed it. You stood. You didn't say anything as you walked to the sliding door, and exited. 

Simon caught site of you just as you were about to reach Russia Sushi's exit. 

"Kohana! Why you not eat sushi? You look sad. Take it with you! You'll feel better!" he shouted over the bar at you.

You gave a wave as a way of saying no thank you, before pushing open the front door. As you stepped out, you heard Simon say one final thing.

"Okay. You should say hello to Shizuo. He's been in bad mood recently. Very grumpy. He see you, then he'll feel better!" 

Your chest tightened as you stepped out onto the city street. You had almost completely forgotten about seeing Shizuo, and about leaving him standing in the alley, alone, confused, and probably heartbroken all over again. 

You were stopping to take in a deep breath of the night's air when you heard someone exit the sushi shop behind you. 

Kyohei came to stand beside you, but he didn't make eye contact. He stretched his arm over to you, handing you your red flip phone that had been in his pocket for safekeeping. 

"He's right," he said seriously. "You should let someone you trust know what you're up to."

You stared at your brother for a long moment. The guilt you felt in your chest for leaving Shizuo now doubled with the weight of the guilt you felt for how you spoke to your brother. You knew he genuinely wanted you to be safe, but that he was also saddened that, once again, you didn't turn to him for help when you needed it. 

You took your phone without saying a word. You felt like there was something more Kyohei wanted to say, but he kept it in. 

After another long moment, he turned to head back inside the restaurant. Just before he did, he said, "When you're done here, the least you could do is let us know that you're safe."

His words surprised you. For a moment, it actually felt like he was giving you his blessing to carry on your work, though you knew it had more to do with him accepting that he had never been able to stop you from doing what you wanted. You decided this was in fact the least you could do, and gave a small nod. 

"Sure."

 

Your phone wasn’t able to survive on the little battery it had left when you called Celty, so by the time you were headed back to your motel the battery was completely dead. It was also just past eleven, and you were ready for sleep.

Your room wasn’t close to Russia Sushi, but you had done that intentionally; you weren’t expecting for that decision to come back and bite you. Then again, you weren't expecting anything that had happened on this trip to happen. Still, nothing in Ikebukuro was too far to walk to. By 11:30 you were headed up the stairs to the room you were staying in. 

As you turned the corner and entered the hall that your room was in, you froze. You noticed your door had been left wide open. You had left the privacy sign on the door, so you knew it hadn't been the maids. You wouldn’t dare call the police and getting the motel staff seemed like a poor idea too; you didn’t want to put anyone in danger. You were also still weaponless thanks to Izaya’s errand, so this left you with one option: approach silently and with caution. 

The closer you came to the open door, the more clearly you could hear the sounds of one person shuffling around inside. It was clear they were looking for something, and they had yet to find it. You took a deep breath in through your nose, and let it out through your mouth. You decided that the person inside was distracted enough flipping your room upside down that it would be safe to make an attack. You took another deep breath, and then barged in. 

As soon as you could make out the figure of a small man in the dark, you went for his wrist. You wrapped your fingers around his skin, and he was quick to retaliate. 

The person dropped to the floor, causing you to fall with him. He then used your vulnerability to kick you once in the ribs. You had stuffed the file under your sweatshirt once again, and so when your attacker kicked, there was an audible crinkle of paper. You noticed the boy react, and quickly realized he had found what he was desperately searching your hotel room for.

As he reached his hands down at you, you brought your feet to his hips and sent him flying into a dresser. He hit it with a hard thud, and you jumped to your feet. As you did, your red phone bounced out of your pocket. When your attacker regained his composure and stepped forward, you heard the small device cracking under his weight.

The boy started throwing punches, which you dodged easily. At one point, you caught his fist in your hand, and brought your own fist up to make contact with his nose. However, as you did this you felt a tear in your left shoulder that you could only assume was your stitches breaking. 

The boy recoiled, but when he stood straight again you saw him grab something from his pocket. Then, when you went in for another swing, you felt a sharp pain in your side and you quickly fell to the floor. 

He had used a high intensity Taser, and your muscles were quickly suffering the side effects. You could hardly even speak as the small male came to stand over you. 

“Sorry hun,” he whispered, reaching up and under your sweatshirt to grab the folder. “I’ll be taking this,” he finished. 

All you could do as you lay on the floor with convulsing muscles and a bloody shoulder, was watch. The young boy exited your hotel room with all of the papers you had worked so hard to get. When he stepped out into the moonlight, you quickly recognized him as Koji Natsume. This was the boy that had stolen your program, and was apparently the CEO of Inazuma Electronics. He was quickly out of sight, and you knew you wouldn’t be able to follow him this time. 

You could do nothing but lay on the hotel floor with the door open, waiting for time to pass and your muscles to calm. You used the time to self-reflect, and decided you weren’t safe at this motel anymore; you had to find somewhere else.

 

When Shinra heard a knock on his door at midnight, he expected it to be Celty without her key. Instead, he stood wide-eyed and open-mouthed when he saw you.

"Kohana!? What are you doing here? Celty's been out all night looking for you!" His eyes scanned your form. "You look awful… ah! You broke your stitches! After I worked so hard on them," he pouted. 

You could do nothing but let out a small squeak of pain in response. The journey to your old friends' apartment with all of your luggage had been slow and tiring. You felt weak and afraid and angry. Tears began to form in the corners of your eyes. Just when you felt you were about to fall over, Shinra came to stand beside you and threw your good arm over his shoulder. 

"Let's get you to bed," he said in a genuine and caring tone. "I'll call Celty and tell her you're safe." 

It didn't take long for Shinra to set up a spare bed for you, and he gave you a shirt to sleep in that was too large for your body. Once you were done changing and safely under the covers, he knelt down beside you to clean your arm once again.

You stared at the ceiling, unable to bring your body to rest as Shinra worked on your wound. You felt like the universe was fighting you on everything tonight.

"Shinra?" you whispered. Your voice was raspy and exhausted. 

You knew you had his attention when he responded with a gentle, "Hm?"

"Do you think I'm a bad person?" 

He seemed rather amused by this, despite the gloomy and serious aura that was radiating around you. 

"What do you mean?" he asked.

You tried to fight off the tears that once again formed at the brim of your lids. 

"I've put myself in dangerous situations. I've hurt a lot of people, and I've lied to them. A lot of bad things have happened to me... is that all because I'm a bad person?"

Shinra didn't even take a moment to think the question over. 

"I think you need to go easier on yourself," he started. "You've always been reckless, and that's caused things to happen that probably wouldn't have otherwise."

You turned your head slightly to look at him curiously.

"But think of all the people who love you despite that," he said with a wide smile. "We wouldn't be so willing to help you if we thought you were a bad person, would we?"

He began wrapping your arm in a clean dressing. 

“People like Kyohei and Shizuo, even Celty and me,” he corrected, “we care about you. When people care about someone, they want to protect them.” A knowing sparkle flashed in his bright eyes. “And sometimes, you should just let us do that.” 

With that, Shinra finished taping the bandage on your arm and gave your hand a soft squeeze. He stood and exited the room, shutting off the lights with a simple, “Goodnight, Kohana.”

As you dozed off into sweet, comfortable, slumber, your chest felt a little lighter than it had the night before.


	9. This Was a Bad Idea

When you woke the next morning, you felt like you had been hit by a bus. You rolled over on the futon Shinra had set up for you in the spare bedroom and let out a loud growl of pain. Yeah, everything hurt.

You slowly reached a hand into the travel bag that was sitting at the head of your temporary mattress, careful not to cause yourself any pain. You began feeling around for your phone, but quickly stopped when you felt your fingers run across the cracked glass screen. With a sigh, you pulled it out of your bag and pushed a couple buttons, hoping it might give some sign of life.

You had no luck. You were officially homeless and phoneless. Oh, and also completely without any sort of plan.

You faced your defeat and crawled out of the futon, grumbling from the pain as you did. You didn’t attempt to make yourself look presentable in any way; your arm was much to sore to brush your hair and you body ached too much to try and dress. So instead, you headed for the kitchen in your borrowed pajamas.

Shinra and Celty were already awake and sitting at the kitchen table.

“Ah-ha. The sleeping princess has finally decided to grace us with her presence. We are humbled, your majesty,” Shinra said. He crossed an arm over his chest and gave a small bow. 

Your eyes darted to a clock on the wall; it was just past 10:00am which was rather late for you. 

"Oh, yeah... sorry about that," you said, rubbing the back of your neck. You felt guilty, immediately thinking you had overstayed your welcome. You also remembered Shinra saying Celty had been out looking for you, which meant she had spent most of her evening yesterday scanning the roads for you after your interrupted phone call. You felt especially guilty about that. 

Celty's hand shot out to you with a message typed across her phone screen. 

_Don't apologize. You clearly needed the rest._

She typed a new message. 

_How are you feeling?_

After reading her words you were quick to respond. 

"I'm fi-" you started, but suddenly cut yourself off. You thought back to your conversation with Shinra, and realized how rehearsed and dishonest the answer you were about to give was. You were not fine. You were far from fine. If you were fine, you wouldn't have called Celty for help and you wouldn't have shown up to Shinra's door with a bloody arm at midnight. You were not fine, and you owed them the truth.

"I'm feeling better than I was last night," you started hesitantly, "but everything hurts, and I don't know what to do..." 

Silence hung in the air for a moment, proving that your friends were as shocked by your sudden honesty as you were. Then, Celty stretched out her arm with another message. As you read it, you felt a small warmth in your chest. 

_What can we do to help?_

You gave a small smile and poured yourself a cup of fresh coffee before taking a seat at the dining room table, across from your two friends. 

"Well," you said, "I should probably start from the beginning."

 

You gave Shinra and Celty a spiel similar to what you had given Kyohei the night before. Only this time you included the package Izaya had sent you to get, and your unexpected encounter with Shizuo. You also informed them of the events in your hotel room that ultimately lead you to appear at their apartment so late. 

"It's so complicated," you said as you brought your story to a close. "I keep thinking it would be better if I just left Ikebukuro, but I also have this feeling that... that something bigger is happening and,"-your hands tightened around the warm coffee mug-"I don't know if it's stupidity or a sudden need to do the right thing, but I want to find out what it is." 

Celty's fingers dashed over her phone's keyboard. 

_I know what you mean. I don't know why, but I've been feeling the same way._

She typed a new message.

_Last night while I was out, I saw a large truck at the old Inazuma Electronics building. I thought it was odd for a shipment to be coming in that late, but didn't think anything more of it. Not until I heard your story anyways._

You were silent as your mind sorted through this new information. Late night shipments only confirmed that whatever was going on wasn’t good or legal, for that matter. Not that you really had any room to judge what people did to earn income, but it seemed whoever you were dealing with was driven by more than just money. 

A thought suddenly popped into your head. 

“Celty, do you remember if there was a name on the truck? Or did you see any of the items that were being delivered?”

She began typing and then held her phone out to you when she was finished.

_Kasai Tech? That was what was on the truck. I didn’t get a good look inside, I’m sorry._

You were stumped. You had hoped she would say Takahata Power Technologies, which had been on the list of shipments Izaya had given you. If that had been the truck Celty had seen, some pieces of the puzzle may have started to line up.

Shinra suddenly chimed in. 

“Kasai Research Tech?” he asked, looking to Celty for clarification. She only shrugged. “That’s odd,” Shinra added. 

“You’ve heard of them?” you pried, feeling a glimmer of hope. 

“Well yeah,” Shinra continued. “They supplied the research equipment my Dad used in his lab. They also supply almost all of the technology equipment you would need in a hospital. That is, they did until they went bankrupt last year and a new company became the top supplier.”

You sat with this information for a moment. It didn’t really make sense, but it was interesting that yet another bankrupt company was involved with this. However, you no longer had any of your information on Inazuma, and you certainly didn’t know anything about Kasai Tech. But you quickly thought of someone who would. 

“Celty,” you started, “I need you to go back to the Inazuma building and poke around. We need to know what they’re doing there, and figure out when and how we can get inside.”

She made a small movement with her neck that you assumed was a nod. You continued. 

“I’m going to figure out more about what’s going on with Kasai Tech.”

“Wait, you’re going back out there?!” Shinra whined. “Aw man, I just fixed your stitches!”

You addressed him with a determined look. 

“Don’t worry,” you said. “I’m not going to let them get the best of me again. But first, I need to fix my phone… I have to make a call.”

 

“Thanks for meeting me so last minute,” you said to the person sitting down across from you. Getting your phone fixed had taken longer than expected, so you were happy this meeting was still able to occur. 

The man let out a sigh and took a sip of his coffee. “I dunno, I think this is a bad idea.”

Tom had been your first call after getting your phone fixed. He already knew you were in town, and he had given you information on Inazuma and therefor he was your best option for getting all of your new questions answered. 

Of course, Tom had expressed his uneasiness with your invitation to the coffee shop (that you were now sitting in) over the phone, but you had persisted to the point of him giving in. You had a time limit though, since he’d be starting work soon and you wanted to be far away from him by then. Yet he was still uneasy now and you could tell by the way he sat stiffly in his chair. 

“Shizuo told me he ran into you already, but you ran off.” His eyes were prying, but you only looked down into your coffee and stayed silent. “I don’t know what happened between you two before you left, but I think seeing you has really thrown him off.”

You squeezed the warm mug in your hand. You were only able to squeak out a small “Yeah…” feeling too guilty to say any more. 

After a long moment you cleared your throat and tried to move on to the main subject matter of your meeting with Tom. 

“I was hoping you could tell me something about Kasai Tech and Takahata Power,” you said, looking back to the brunette. 

He was clearly surprised by this request. 

“Really? What’s with all the interest in big technology companies?” he asked, referring to your previous conversation on Inazuma. 

“It’s for work,” was your only response. 

Tom was smart, and he knew you weren’t telling him the entire truth, but he continued on anyways. 

“Well let’s see, Takahata Power is a private company that started out small. They supply large energy sources like batteries to warehouses and factories that have big machines.”

You leaned forward in your chair, curious to hear more. 

“Do you know who owns it?” you asked. 

Tom shook his head. “No, but the guy’s probably a millionaire. They started out in Shinjuku only a few years ago, but now I bet they supply almost every factory in Tokyo.” 

The table the two of you were sitting at was against a large window that looked out onto the street. He turned his head and watched the people walking up and down the sidewalk.

“They also started supplying smaller-scale services, like batteries for cell phones,” he continued. “I’d bet every single person walking by has a Takahata Power battery in their phone.”

This information was still just another piece in the puzzle with no connections, but you were intrigued.

“Interesting,” you said and took another sip of your coffee. “So what about Kasai Tech? They went out of business didn’t they?”

Tom gave a nod and turned back to face you. “They lost more than a couple of their investors after it came out that they were supplying their products to… less than honorable customers.” He sounded uncomfortable as he spoke. 

“What are their products?” you urged. 

“Medical tech. I couldn’t tell you specifics, but whatever it was, it wasn’t being used for any good and that’s what eventually came out and caused them to go under.”

You didn’t need to ask what he was referring too. You knew very well that if Shinra’s father had been using the technology from this company, it was being used for human research and experimentation. 

“Is there anyway that they could still be in business?” You knew this was a stretch and didn’t really know what kind of answer you expected from Tom, but you had to ask. 

Tom looked at you quizzically. “I really don’t think so,” he said, turning back to look out the window of the coffee shop. “Unless- Oh crap!”

Your eyes darted out the window to see what had alarmed him and you stiffened instantly. Walking up the sidewalk and toward the window was Shizuo. 

You both froze, like meek gazelle trying to remain unseen by the predatory lion. Of course, Shizuo was hardly a predator to either of you, but the guilt you would feel for sneaking around and meeting up with Tom behind his back would certainly feel worse than getting eaten by a lion. 

“Did you tell him you were here?!” you whispered, even though volume wasn’t going to be the problem here.

“I told him I was in the area, but I didn’t say where,” Tom responded with a hint of guilt. 

You refrained from swearing. After all, Tom was doing you a favor and you really were the cause of all this discomfort. 

Shizuo was hardly paying any attention to the road in front of him, much less to the people inside of a building he was walking by. His eye’s were looking down at the pavement and were hidden behind his dark sunglasses. His hands were in his pockets, and per usual he seemed more focused on his own thoughts than anything else. Still, you and Tom held your breath until he had passed by the shop completely. 

You felt a heavy weight in your chest as you watched him. Tom was right; he looked more distracted than usual and you couldn’t help but feel that was because of you. A missed call notification from Shizuo had appeared on your phone immediately after you got it fixed. He hadn’t left a message. You wondered if he had even waited for the machine, or if he had changed his mind immediately after dialing. Either way, you didn’t call him back. 

You felt a tremendous amount of guilt, doing nothing as he walked by. Four years ago you would have tapped on the window until you had gotten his attention, and then you would have waved your arms and invited him in. He would have come in and sat, and you would have bought him a doughnut and some milk because you always said he didn’t eat enough and you wanted to take care of him. Like Shinra said, when you care about someone, you want to protect them. And you had loved him.

Once he was out of sight, both you and Tom let out an audible sigh. 

“Oh man,” Tom said. “I knew this was a bad idea.”

You actually nodded this time. “Maybe you were right. I’m so- AH!”

Your apology had been cut short when you noticed Shizuo appear outside of the coffee shop window again. Like a frog on a windshield, his face was pressed against the glass and his eyes were wide. He had both palms pressed against the clear barrier, as if it was helping him get even closer to what he was trying to look at: you. 

Your breath had caught in your throat with your shriek, but Tom let out the same expletive you had been thinking of before. 

No one moved for a long moment. Shizuo simply stared in at you, his breath causing a cloud of fog to appear on the glass. If you hadn’t been frozen with fear, you may have even laughed at him.

Suddenly he pulled away from the glass and began marching towards the entrance. You spun in your chair just in time to see him barrel through the front door of the establishment, pushing past a few customers in line as he did. 

He came up to the table you and Tom were sitting at, and towered over it like a skyscraper would over cottages in the country. He said nothing, and only continued to stare at you as if he were trying to figure out if what he was seeing was real. 

You put your palms up in an act of surrender and apology. Shizuo took his eyes off of you for a moment to fixate on your hands. Finally, you were able to speak up but it came out in a squeak.

“Shizuo, don’t be upset with Tom. I asked him to come here and that was unfair.” You hardly got the whole sentence out before you choked up again.

Shizuo had reached his own hand out, and grabbed yours. Despite the tension hovering around you, he was very gentle. He traced your palm with his own long fingers and then gave it a tight squeeze. His touch was as soft as you had remembered, and it took all of your strength not to melt into a puddle of tears at his tender gesture. 

You were about to speak up once more, but before you could, Shizuo did something even more unexpected. 

In one swift movement he had pulled you to your feet… and thrown you over his shoulder. 

You let out a small yelp and drew the attention of the other customers to you and Shizuo. Everyone watched as Shizuo headed for the exit and walked out onto the street, carrying you over his shoulder like a sack of flour, leaving Tom behind in the shop alone.

Tom let out a large huff as the door shut behind you. 

“Like I said,” he sighed, “this was a bad idea.”


End file.
